Chapter 142 The lounge has only had three guests from the "Investiture of the Gods" program so far...
The priest's right ear twitched.
It feels like Yu Naixin fits any of these attributes perfectly, without any awkwardness.
Yu Naixin didn't keep them in suspense: "It's 'light'."
Since it's all called "Yao Ling," when people mention "the sun," their first reaction is probably bright light, rather than "fire."
Coincidentally, in the Five Elements theory, "light" belongs to "fire," so they are related.
**********
The lounge has everything one needs, more than enough to meet one person's basic needs, but it lacks internet, computers, mobile phones, television, or radio, making it severely lacking in entertainment options.
The first two times Yu Naixin came to the rest room, she was taking a short break after a whole dungeon show. She spent most of her time catching up on sleep, buying some supplies from the system's regular shop to eat and drink, casually browsing the live stream comments recorded on the system screen, and then playing with the priest's folding fan and paper dog. It was then time to start the next dungeon show.
However, this time, Yu Naixin did not experience a significant level of physical fatigue in "Xiawei Temple" and did not have a pressing need for sleep. Since she was going to stay for a whole week, how to relax and kill time became a crucial issue.
The system's regular store does sell individual movies, TV series, and animations. After purchasing, you can select and play them on the system screen. Books and simple game consoles are also available for purchase, as are a considerable number of physical toys.
However, Yu Naixin looked at the prices of these items. A movie that was over 120 minutes long cost 88 Sweet Coins, a book of about 100,000 words cost 96 Sweet Coins, and a game console that could only play a game similar to Connect Four cost a whopping 139 Sweet Coins.
Yu Naixin couldn't help but gasp.
She felt it was more worthwhile to use the little money she had left in her wallet to buy some good food.
In its original intent, the lounge that "Heartbeat 1000%" set up for its guests was simply a place for them to rest briefly.
Whether it's the daily rent of up to 100 Sweet Coins or the exorbitant prices of entertainment and leisure items, they are all subtly telling the residents that they should just take a short rest and not linger there, and should hurry up and participate in the new dungeon program.
Yu Naixin, who has been in the film "Xiawei Temple" for almost three years, rolled her eyes at this.
However, her situation this time is extremely rare. Yu Naixin is already a show guest who treats all kinds of strange situations as ordinary daily life, but this is the first time she has been able to experience such a long time in a show segment.
Yu Naixin herself estimated that she was unlikely to experience this situation again in the future.
Her case is a very extreme one, so it's quite normal that "Heartbeat 1000%" didn't take that into account when setting the macro-level rules.
Looking around at the walls of the lounge, which had no exits or ventilation openings, Yu Naixin sighed deeply.
Staying indoors voluntarily is a pleasure, but being forced to stay indoors is torture!
The rent of 700 Sweet Coins has been paid. Yu Naixin knows that she really needs this time to clear her mind, and she also hopes that this period of time will be as less boring as possible.
Looking through the two shops on the system screen, Yu Naixin stared thoughtfully at the deck of cards priced at 79 Sweet Coins.
I wonder if the priestess knows how to play cards. If not, she can teach her. A deck of cards is enough for the two of them to play for a long time, so it's quite cost-effective.
If it weren't for the fact that it's impossible to learn these things with paper puppies, Yu Naixin would have liked to buy a mahjong set that costs 150 Sweet Coins. If you can't get four people to play mahjong, three people can still manage. Two-player mahjong isn't very interesting, so it's better to switch to playing cards.
Sensing that its owner seemed to have thought of it, the paper puppy that had been lying on the ground at Yu Naixin's feet, wagging its tail, immediately stood up, raised its blank face to look at its owner, and seemed to be waiting for further instructions.
Yu Naixin noticed its movement, but too lazy to get out of bed, she kicked off one of her slippers and used her foot to touch the head of the paper puppy, interacting with her little pet.
The paper puppy was immediately excited, rubbing against Yu Naixin's feet frantically, and even rolled over and lay on its back with its belly facing its owner, showing its complete trust and affection.
After playing with the silly dog for a while, Yu Naixin suddenly made a new discovery on the system screen.
On the subpage with the Sweet Coin icon, a rather inconspicuous button has appeared in the lower left corner.
The moment she clicked on it, Yu Naixin's eyes widened.
Here, there are clearly entrances to various live streaming rooms!
Just like the main interfaces of the video websites that Yu Naixin saw in her hometown, she saw a total of sixteen different live streaming windows in a 4x4 layout.
Pull the screen down to see more live stream windows.
Yu Naixin quickly clicked on several windows and confirmed that the live stream content in the window was the same segment that other guests of "Heartbeat 1000%" were participating in!
"A fan!" Yu Naixin immediately called out to the priestess, "What's this all about?"
She was still a guest on the show; she hadn't died or become a "viewer." So why could she suddenly see other guests' live streams?!
Has the flaws in the "Heartbeat 1000%" program become this serious?
The priest immediately brought his folding fan closer.
"Ah, this," the priest explained to Yu Naixin with his folding fan, "is a privilege of program guests with titles, allowing them to participate as viewers in the live streams of other program guests."
"The relevant permissions are no different from those of ordinary viewers. They can watch in real time, freely adjust the perspectives of different guests, send bullet comments to interact, and reward the owner of the live broadcast room with Sweet Coins."
Seeing that Yu Naixin's eyes were lighting up, the priest with the folding fan hurriedly explained the questions his mistress would likely be concerned about: "Watching these live streams doesn't require any extra cost."
“Miss Yu, you can register an account, just like the viewers you saw in your live stream before, with a name that is not the same as other viewers.”
"When you use your account to send bullet comments and give rewards, your identity as a guest on the show will not be exposed, and you can blend in with other viewers without any difference."
"Clap clap clap".
Yu Naixin directly extended both hands and applauded this rule of "Heartbeat 1000%".
She rarely praises this terrible dating show, but now she genuinely admires it.
In a lounge without internet access, live streaming is already a great form of entertainment, and it doesn't even cost money.
Yu Naixin had long been curious about the differences between herself and other program guests in various aspects. She could enjoy entertainment for free while also gaining more information, which was a great deal.
While continuing to ask the priest about more details about the folding fan, Yu Naixin also started to study the system screen page herself. She quickly learned that the live broadcast windows displayed on it were all random and belonged to non-titled program guests.
On the right side of the page, you can click on a popularity chart, which is the one that Yu Naixin often sees viewers saying she's been on in her live streams. There are eighteen live streams listed from top to bottom, and Yu Naixin directly clicked on the one ranked first.
At this moment, a pop-up window asking for a username appeared in the center of Yu Naixin's system screen. Just as the priest explained, all that was needed was to enter a unique name to complete the entire registration process.
Yu Naixin's first reaction was to type "anything," but the system displayed: "[This username has already been registered. Please change to another username.]"
If you enter "Go for it and bankrupt the show", the system still displays "[This username has been registered. Please change to another username]".
Yu Naixin: "?"
Is this a guest on a TV show who shares her aspirations, or just an ordinary viewer?
Neither username worked, so Yu Naixin simply typed in whatever came to mind: "Spicy Beef Tallow Hot Pot Base".
Your username has been successfully registered. Enjoy watching!
When Yu Naixin was registering her username, Priest Folding Fan was watching from the sidelines. When she saw the name her master finally registered, Priest Folding Fan was speechless.
Yu Naixin mentioned that she was picking up a package before she got involved in "Heartbeat 1000%". The package contained a pack of spicy beef tallow hot pot base that she had ordered online. She often eats that brand and likes it very much.
As a result, the package that arrived at "Heartbeat 1000%" disappeared automatically, and Yu Naixin still misses it quite a bit.
The last time Yu Naixin came to the lounge, she even bought spicy beef tallow hot pot base from the system's regular store and cooked herself a hot pot. She even wanted to invite the priest's folding fan and paper dog to eat with her, but of course, nothing came of it in the end.
The priest's folding fan and the paper dog were simply incapable of eating, especially a pot of boiling, red-oil-filled soup.
The priest with the folding fan is certain that Yu Naixin truly loves spicy beef tallow hot pot base, far more than any of the other guests on the show, including the butter flower monk and the headless stone ghost, who are Yu Naixin's favorites.
Thinking of this, the priest with the folding fan recalled the time he explained to Yu Naixin that no item in "Heartbeat 1000%" could compare to the buffs and skills brought by the title.
It was a little unconvinced at the time, feeling that its special spiritual artifact at the domain lord level could still avoid being compared to ordinary titles. After all, titles also have varying strengths, and some titles are really rather useless with a very narrow range of applications.
Yu Naixin was amused by it and even patted its head, coaxing it like a child, saying, "Okay, okay, when I get a title, I'll compete with you."
The Priestess Folding Fan was quite self-aware. Even though it firmly believed that Yu Naixin would only get the title after participating in five dungeon shows, it knew very well that it was no match for the title that a big shot like its master would get. If it insisted on comparing, it would only humiliate itself.
However, Yu Naixin's hand stroking its head back then was really warm, and her voice was sweet and gentle, making Priest Fan feel a little nostalgic.
Its owner can be as cold as a polar glacier or as gentle as a spring breeze brushing against willow branches. No matter which personality trait is displayed in Yu Naixin, it is particularly eye-catching and charming...
Yu Naixin has entered the live stream room of the program guest who ranked first on the popularity list in the general live stream area as a "viewer".
She finally understood what her livestream room looked like in the eyes of her viewers.
Similar to the live streaming rooms on other websites that Yu Naixin had seen before, the live stream content was played in full-screen magnification, with new bullet comments appearing one after another from bottom to top in the lower left corner. If Yu Naixin wanted to send a bullet comment, she could simply click the empty box at the bottom, whether with her finger or with her mind.
Inputting comments can be done with just your mind, which is very convenient and quick. Good things are almost negligible. No wonder that many of the time-sensitive details in her own live streams would cause a long string of comments.
The tipping button is in the upper left corner. It can only be sent with a bullet screen comment. The amount is customizable, with a minimum of 1 Sweet Coin and no upper limit, as long as you have it in your account balance.
The upper right corner displays various messages from the live stream. Yu Naixin clicked on it, and all the basic information about the current live stream's guest program was displayed.
The theme of this program is: "Grapevine Alley".
Your program profile identifies you as a college student returning to your hometown.
[Background information for this program: You are a resident of Putao Teng Hutong, born and raised there. A year ago, you were admitted to a university in another city. Now, during your summer vacation, you have returned from university and heard about a bizarre murder that occurred in the hutong last week.]
[The female guests on this episode are: the Purple Grape Fairy and the One-Eyed Girl Next Door.]
[The program concludes when you have thoroughly investigated the truth behind the murder in Grapevine Alley and survived until the first purple grape ripens.]
The host of this live stream is a male program guest.
"Heartbeat 1000%" has no gender requirements for the program guests. Female program guests will be matched with male counterpart guests, and male program guests will be matched with female counterpart guests.
As for the low-probability event that the sexual orientation of the show's guests might differ from the gender of the matched guest, the production team of "Heartbeat 1000%" completely disregards this. After all, in this dating reality show full of crises and bloodshed, very few show guests would actually put their minds to dating the matched guest.
The favorability rating for the guests in the dungeon is just a means of survival. They're not even human, so why should I care about their gender?
Yu Naixin browsed through the basic information of this guy's live stream and could intuitively feel that the difficulty and danger of this dungeon show he was going to perform were quite high.
No matter what, "Heartbeat 1000%" is essentially just a dating reality show. None of the three episodes that Yu Naixin experienced were "simple" in the slightest, and none of them explicitly featured elements like "murder."
This guy not only has to win over two female guest characters and gain their favor to achieve effective purification, but he also has to solve cases as a detective in this ghostly environment, so you can imagine how tricky it is.
The priest, with his folding fan, provided timely explanations to Yu Naixin: "For a dungeon show of this difficulty, the guest must be a veteran who has participated in more than five dungeon shows, and he must also have a certain level of skill to be matched here by the system."
The guests who can top the popularity charts must have some skills. Yu Naixin turned off the information bar in the upper right corner of the live broadcast room and focused on watching the live broadcast screen.
The live stream room was pitch black at this time, seemingly late at night. The male guest remained motionless, huddled in a corner of a building, without making a sound.
[I saw an episode of "Grapevine Alley" before. The male guest was dismembered into dozens of pieces by the one-eyed girl. It was horribly gruesome.]
[Damn, the groundhog has once again used his signature move—burrowing underground to hide!]
[I was wondering why so many of you called the male guest "groundhog"! He's such a handsome young man, turns out he really is quite the groundhog!]
To be honest, being able to conceal oneself as well as the male guest without using any special props is truly a remarkable talent.
[Will hiding in the cellar be enough to escape the neighbor's sister's search?]
[The Grape Fairy has disappeared somewhere. This guest character in the instance is always so elusive. I feel like she shouldn't be called the "Purple Grape Fairy," she should be called the "Purple Grape Ghost."]
Oh wow.
Yu Naixin's gaze lingered on the word "groundhog" for two seconds. Sure enough, any guest with a bit of fame on a TV show couldn't escape being given a nickname by the audience in the live broadcast room, just like her "Little Witch" and "Big Demon King".
The live stream at the top of the popularity charts was very active in the chat. Soon, Yu Naixin learned from the long-time viewers that this was the sixth episode of "Groundhog's" show.
Two weeks have passed in the instance program. "Groundhog" has determined through the clues he found that the "first purple grape ripens" experience started exactly one month ago, which means there are still half a month left before the deadline of this instance program.
Aside from Yu Naixin, few program guests would encounter such unusual situations in every episode. The "Groundhog" episode, "Grapevine Alley," was the most common scenario where two guests had to choose one.
The female guest chosen by "Groundhog" was the Purple Grape Fairy, but this guest's whereabouts were always hard to figure out. Even with the privilege of being the guest of choice, she didn't do anything to "Groundhog". In fact, "Groundhog" had been dealing with the one-eyed girl next door more in the past two weeks.
Yu Naixin used the button in the lower right corner of the live stream screen to change her perspective and came to the Purple Grape Fairy's side.
The segment titled "Grapevine Alley" does indeed feature grapevines surrounding every house in the alley. A somber-looking female demon in a purple dress sits atop a grapevine in front of a house, gazing at the moonlight filtering through the thin gray mist in the distance, lost in thought.
"Wow," Yu Naixin exclaimed softly, "So beautiful!"
The guest contestants on "Heartbeat 1000%" all possessed near-flawless appearances. Having seen many handsome male guest contestants, Yu Naixin couldn't help but admire the stunningly beautiful female guest contestants.
However, this beautiful purple grape succubus seemed to really just want to sit quietly and daydream. Yu Naixin watched for a while and then got bored, so she switched to the last perspective of the live stream, the one-eyed girl next door.
This is the only one of the three perspectives that is not static. The girl next door, who looks to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing a blue and white middle school sports uniform and with shoulder-length short hair, has her right eye wrapped in a bandage, while her other round eye is looking around.
As she walked through the alleyways in the darkness, she softly called out, "Brother Duan—Brother Duan—"
Hiding names is a protective measure for new guests on the show "Heartbeat 1000%", because many curse-related skills are based on the victim's name.
Similar to Yu Naixin's situation, the guest on the show usually only knows the guest's surname and has no knowledge of his given name. However, this "groundhog" is a veteran guest, and the restrictions on hiding his name have been lifted quite a bit. With Yu Naixin's current access level, she can still hear his surname information.
"Brother Duan—" The one-eyed girl next door's voice grew softer and sweeter, but her pure and beautiful face was expressionless, cold and stiff, appearing especially eerie in the night. "Where are you—?"
Unlike Yu Naixin's naturally sweet voice, this female guest on the show deliberately strained her voice, producing a sound that was like a mixture of poison and honey, sticking together and almost cloying.
Yu Naixin switched between the perspectives of "Groundhog" and the one-eyed girl next door a few times, and based on the surrounding buildings and environment, she roughly judged that the girl was getting further and further away from "Brother Duan".
Generally, a guest on a TV show gains 10 points of spiritual power for successfully surviving a single episode. "Groundhog" has a spiritual power of about 50, while the one-eyed girl next door is the kind of guest whose spiritual power is definitely over 100 points, as Yu Naixin can tell at a glance.
Given such a huge difference in spiritual power, it is truly commendable that "Groundhog" was able to deceive the one-eyed girl next door without using any props.
The chat in the live stream was saying that either this dungeon show ends or the next one ends, and "Groundhog" will definitely get the title.
The live stream of "Grapevine Alley" was still going on for a long time, so Yu Naixin didn't continue watching. She left the live stream and found the entrance to the title area.
The live stream windows in the regular area were already so small that you couldn't scroll down to the bottom no matter how much you scrolled. Yu Naixin thought that the number of live stream windows in the title area, which only accounted for 1%, would be significantly reduced, but it was still in 4x4 display mode, and you could still see a constant stream of new windows even after scrolling down for a while.
This only shows the number of live streams currently featuring the show. The live streams of other guests who are in the lounge like Yu Naixin are closed and will not be displayed here.
Yu Naixin couldn't help but ask Priestess Folding Fan: "How many guests are there on 'Heartbeat 1000%'?"
"Uh..." This question completely stumped the priestess with the folding fan. "I'm sorry, Miss Yu, I don't have the authority to know the exact figures..."
"However, the number of guests currently appearing on the live broadcast is definitely in the seven figures."
Yu Naixin: "...Hiss."
Even if we assume a minimum of one million, a seven-figure sum would still qualify someone as a guest of honor with ten thousand titles...
She had previously estimated that "that person" managed tens of thousands of program episodes, but that was far too conservative.
The main page of the live stream window in the title area does not have a "Popularity Ranking"; instead, it has a "Leaderboard".
The above only displays the guests of the program that is currently being broadcast, and is divided into three sub-lists: "Experience Ranking", "Wealth Ranking" and "Cleansing Ranking".
The "Experience Ranking" is a list of the total number of episodes a guest has participated in. The more episodes a guest has participated in, the higher they will be ranked.
The "Wealth Ranking" is, as the name suggests, a list of the number of Sweet Coins held by the show's guests.
The "Purification Ranking" is a list of the cumulative purification levels achieved by the program's guests. For example, if a guest participates in three episodes and achieves purification levels of 30%, 20%, and 10% respectively, then the cumulative purification level achieved by that guest is 60%.
Since it's the title section, all three lists directly display the title rankings.
At the top of the "Experience Ranking" is a guest named "Jade Blade," who has completed 13 episodes of the show and is currently on his fourteenth.
The number "13" made Yu Naixin's teeth ache.
She had only just finished a fraction of what others had done – three sessions – and it already felt incredibly long. Yet this big shot had done a full digit more.
Yu Naixin is quite familiar with the title "Jade Blade".
In her own live stream chat, viewers have mentioned this title many times. According to them, "Jade Blade" is the most recognized guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%" today.
"Yu Ren" is the same gender as Yu Naixin, both being female program guests, and is often compared to Yu Naixin by the audience.
Having heard so much about her, and just in time for "Jade Blade" to start her live stream, Yu Naixin immediately clicked into the corresponding live stream room from the top of the experience leaderboard.
The first thing that caught Yu Naixin's eye on the screen was a raging fire.
The theme of this program is: "The Auspicious Opera House".
Your program identity is: Amateur.
[Background information for this program: You are a regular at Ruyi Opera House and enjoy listening to the operas performed there. It is said that this opera house truly lives up to its name; whatever your wish may be, it can be fulfilled here.]
[The male guests on this episode are: Mr. Qingyi, Ghost in Red, and Phoenix-Tail Hammer Spirit.]
The standard for ending this program is: survival until the end of the program.
The criteria for ending this episode made Yu Naixin's eyes narrow.
The fact that there were no other requirements, only the survival of the show's guests, is enough to illustrate how difficult it is to "survive" in "Ruyi Opera House".
With "Jade Blade's" strength, she can only be matched with the most difficult episodes of "Heartbeat 1000%".
The basic information doesn't specify what the standard is for "the end of the program," so the program guests have to go in and find out for themselves.
As for the fact that there are three guest stars in this episode, which would be surprising to the average viewer, Yu Naixin completely ignores it.
The number of viewers in the live streams of top influencers is naturally terrifying.
Yu Naixin could barely keep up with the refresh rate of the comments in the lower left corner.
[My goodness, finally we've seen a guest who survived "Ruyi Opera House"!]
[Congratulations to the female guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%"! You have received 100 Sweet Coins from a viewer with the ID "迢迢遥遥"!]
[Witnessing a historic moment! The "Jade Blade" goddess is too powerful!!]
[Congratulations to the female guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%"! You have received 133 Sweet Coins from a viewer with the ID "Migraine"!]
If even "Jade Blade" can't beat the game, then who can?
A long time ago, "Ruyi Opera House" was known as the "weakest three-choice-one-player show," but after so many episodes, female guests have been eliminated one after another, making the three guest judges increasingly arrogant. Now, "Ruyi Opera House" is almost synonymous with "guests are destined to die"!
[Yeah, especially in the last dozen or so episodes. Every female guest who came in was a big shot on one of the three lists, and look at how they all ended up failing. Without exception, they all became nourishment for these three male guests!]
[The final cleansing level of "Jade Blade" is 39%! Wow, it's almost breaking 4! This is "Ruyi Opera House"! Besides the goddess being incredibly awesome, I don't know what else to say!]
[Congratulations to the female guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%"! You have received 99 Sweet Coins from a viewer with the ID "Xike"!]
[I'm confessing my love for my goddess before the live stream ends!!]
[Congratulations to the female guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%"! You have received 199 Sweet Coins from a viewer with the ID "angly"!]
[Goddess, please take a good rest this time. Don't push yourself so hard anymore. You have the best chance of breaking through in "Heartbeat 1000%". You are very, very important to the entire "Heartbeat 1000%" competition!]
[Congratulations to the female guest on the show "Heartbeat 1000%"! You have received 240 Sweet Coins from a viewer with the ID "Soft Bread 666"!]
Yu Naixin didn't even have time to carefully look at what was on the live stream screen before her eyes were dazzled by the overwhelming barrage of comments.
The flames engulfed the entire live stream screen, and Yu Naixin and all the other guests were nowhere to be seen. They could only catch a glimpse of "Yu Ren's" profile, a woman who looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years old and had a very pretty face.
Then, before Yu Naixin even saw the system notification, "[Congratulations to the female guest on the 'Heartbeat 1000%' program! You have successfully completed this program's challenge and are now calculating your final reward!]", the live stream ended.
After a few seconds of black screen, Yu Naixin, the viewer, was forcibly removed from the live stream and returned to the main interface of the live stream window in the title area.
In other words, in the tiny amount of time between the system's announcement of the "Jade Blade" dungeon clear and the live stream being completely shut down, viewers flooded the chat with so many comments and donations.
"That's amazing!" Yu Naixin exclaimed sincerely. "No wonder he's the number one guest on the show!"
I wonder if this "Jade Blade" master will still go live during her week-long break at home. Yu Naixin really wants to see her skills and performance.
The priest with the folding fan scoffed at this: "'Jade Blade' is far inferior to 'Surging Waves'. If 'Surging Waves' were still alive, this 'Ruyi Opera House' level dungeon program could at least achieve a 60% cleansing effect!"
Yu Naixin is no stranger to the title "Jingtao". Some viewers have said that she is the most successful guest in the entire history of "Heartbeat 1000%".
"Is 'Jingtao' gone?" Yu Naixin asked.
The priest tapped the fan with his folding fan: "Yes, he was a male guest on the show. He had successfully completed seventeen dungeon challenges and was about to attempt the final one when he was eliminated."
Yu Naixin's eyes flashed: "The last one?"
"It's the most widely circulated theory about how the show's guests can escape 'Heartbeat 1000%'," Priest Folding Fan explained, "as long as they survive the eighteen episodes of the show, they can break through the show's restrictions."
"However, the authorities have not explicitly acknowledged this, and it is possible that it is untrue."
At this point, the priest's tone was tinged with emotion: "Looking back at the entire history of 'Heartbeat 1000%,' including the show's predecessor, there was only one guest, 'Jingtao,' who made it into the eighteenth episode."
"He had already achieved god-like status at that time, but he still couldn't survive the final episode of the show."
"Aside from 'Surging Waves,' the highest record for guests on other shows is the fifteenth episode of a separate program."
“So,” Yu Naixin said, “‘Jade Blade’ has successfully cleared fourteen rounds, does that mean she’s also become a legend?”
The priest shook his folding fan: "Becoming a god isn't that easy. It's not as simple as participating in a certain number of dungeon shows. There are many other requirements."
"Otherwise, 'Heartbeat 1000%' wouldn't have only had three legendary guests to date."
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Author's Note: Hehe, three chapters combined into one!
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